Watch on the Rhine
Watch on the Rhine is a 1943 American drama film directed by Herman Shumlin and starring Bette Davis and Paul Lukas. The screenplay by Dashiell Hammett is based on the 1941 play Watch on the Rhine by Lillian Hellman. Watch on the Rhine was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Paul Lukas won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Kurt Muller, a German-born anti-fascist in this film.
Plot
In 1940, German engineer Kurt Muller, his American wife Sara, and their children Joshua, Babette, and Bodo cross the Mexican border into the United States to visit Sara's brother David Farrelly and their mother Fanny in Washington, D.C. For the past 17 years, the Muller family has lived in Europe, where Kurt responded to the rise of Nazism by engaging in anti-fascist activities. Sara tells her family they are seeking peaceful sanctuary on American soil, but their quest is threatened by the presence of house guest Teck de Brancovis, an opportunistic Romanian count who has been conspiring with the German Embassy. Teck, married to the younger Marthe, tries to force her to learn more about the Mullers. She and David are attracted to each other and she finds her husband's politics horrendous.
Awards
More details
| author | Dashiell Hammett Lillian Hellman |
|---|---|
| award | Academy Award for Best Actor National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
| contentLocation | Washington, D.C. |
| director | Hal Mohr Herman Shumlin |
| editor | Rudi Fehr |
| events | World War II |
| genre | drama |
| keywords | anti-fascism anti-fascist arrest engage gestapo house guest lose married mexican border mexico–united states border nazism rescue resistance during world war ii resistance worker romanian wash |
| musicBy | Max Steiner |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay |
| producer | Hal B. Wallis |
| productionCompany | Warner Bros. |
| publisher | Warner Bros. |
| theme | propaganda war |